


Plus One

by Rehearsal_Dweller



Series: (super) suit and tie [1]
Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: M/M, Modern AU, superhero au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:53:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26187508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rehearsal_Dweller/pseuds/Rehearsal_Dweller
Summary: There's no way - no way in Hell - thathehas actually found his way into their wedding day.And yet... there he is.
Relationships: David Jacobs & Jack Kelly, Jack Kelly/Katherine Plumber, Racetrack Higgins & Jack Kelly, Racetrack Higgins/David Jacobs
Series: (super) suit and tie [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1906060
Comments: 33
Kudos: 58





	Plus One

**Author's Note:**

> For a number of reasons, I'm having some trouble getting Once We Win 8 to come together. I'm anticipating getting that up within the next few days, but in the meantime have a superhero au!  
> I love this concept and might expand it if people enjoy it so let me know what you guys think!

There’s someone in the crowd who shouldn’t be here. Someone who _can’t_ be here.

David twitches his fingers subtly. He’s a few feet away from Tony, but that movement is enough to tug gently on Tony’s suit jacket sleeve. Tony, who after five years of professional partnership is used to David getting his attention this way, turns toward him sharply. It’s not a trick David likes to use in their current company.

Which is to say, normal company. Dressed in their normal clothes, doing normal things.

David nods toward the _odd_ attendee who’s caught his eye.

Tony’s eyes go wide when he spots him.

There’s a faint crackle of electricity dancing across Tony’s fingers, but David tugs on his sleeve again, then shakes his head.

Tony excuses himself from the conversation he’s involved in, and David does the same.

“There’s no way,” Tony says quietly when they’re close enough. “How did he _know_?”

“We’ve got to approach with caution,” says David, which isn’t really the answer to the question Tony asked. “I think he’s here with someone, as their date. Maybe he _didn’t_ know.”

Tony hums disbelievingly.

“He’s sitting with Kath,” David says.

“He’s at our fucking wedding!” Tony says. It’s just over a whisper, but heavily emphatic.

They walk together to the table where the unexpected guest is sitting with Katherine Plumber.

“David! Tony!” Katherine says, popping up from her seat and giving each of them a quick hug. “Congratulations, I’m so happy for you guys.”

“Thanks, Katie,” David says. He kisses her cheek. “Who’s your friend?”

“Right!” says Katherine. “Jack –“ her plus one jumps to his feet to stand next to her, slipping an arm around her waist and grinning at David and Tony, “Jack, you haven’t met the grooms yet! David, Tony, this is my boyfriend Jack Kelly. Jack, Tony and David Jacobs.”

“Nice to meet you, Jack,” Tony says, in a remarkably even voice.

Jack’s grin, if possible, grows. “Nice to meet you, boys. Tony, Davey.”

David swallows a groan. Jack has always been a professional at pushing David’s buttons, to a distressingly literal degree.

“Jack,” David says.

“You know, Kathy’s been awful vague about your story,” Jack says. “How’d the two’a you meet again?”

David hears another electric crackle and tries to suppress a sigh.

“We met through a work friend,” Tony says.

“A _work friend_?” Jack echoes, delighted.

“A work friend,” David confirms. He wishes, slightly distantly, that their cover story were almost anything else. But they can’t suddenly go back on it, not in front of Katherine.

Not at their goddamn wedding.

“And what field are you two in, again?”

\--

_David is reluctantly answering a supervillain’s ad for a “nemesis.” He’s intensely skeptical of the man’s motives, almost certain that this is some odd, elaborate trap. Still, a villain is a villain, and there aren’t a lot of superpowered people in this city, let alone superpowered people inclined to use that for evil. David’s got to take what he can get._

_When he shows up, there’s another hero already there. They’ve never met before, but David has seen his photo in the paper a fair few times. The cloud of blond curls, always looking slightly like he’s just been shocked with something, the utility belt full of tech, the wide, easy grin – there’s only one hero this could be, really._

_“Hey! Flare!” Race says, that smile reaching all the way to his eyes, which are sparkling under his mask. “You answering Impulse’s nemesis ad, too? Hell yeah! We could be partners!”_

_“Who says I want a partner?”_

_\--_

Tony is giving Jack this look of _good god, Impulse, fuck all the way off_ that David is having a hard time not laughing at.

“Tones does IT and I’m a full-time artist.”

“And you’ve got a mutual –“

Tony makes a choked sound at the back of his throat. “Jack.”

“Sorry,” Jack says, not sounding sorry at all.

“I’m gonna go grab another drink,” Katherine says. She pecks Jack on the cheek. “Do you want one, love?”

“Please and thank you,” says Jack.

The three of them wait until Katherine is out of earshot before speaking again.

“How the _fuck_ do you know Kath?” David blurts.

“A work friend!” Jack says, grinning. “I’m a work friend, now?”

“Kind of!” says Tony.

“I love that,” says Jack. “Kathy and I work together. I got a day job, you know.”

“I’d never have guessed,” Tony says honestly. “I kinda thought you just sat on your ass makin’ up all kinds’a new bullshit to put us through when you weren’t with us.”

“I do do that,” Jack admits. “It’s part’a the job description. I just happen to do it from my desk at the World most’a the time. Davey, you never told me you’re an artist.”

“I also never told you my name, _Jack_ ,” David points out. “There’s a lot you don’t know about us; that’s generally the idea.”

\--

_The thing is, Impulse’s ad was serious._

_And the thing is, David keeps turning up._

_Somewhat despite himself, he kind of likes Impulse. He’s a bad guy, sure, but mostly in a petty, targeted way that sometimes David can even kind of agree with. Not that he’d ever say that in a professional setting._

_And then there’s Race – Race has stuck around, too, and Race is really growing on David. A lot more than he ever expected him to._

_Race’s approach to heroing is a lot more flexible, go-with-the-flow than David’s, but David is rapidly learning that he has some room in his life to loosen up._

_They’ve started working together on other crimes, too. To the point where the media is starting to recognize the two of them as a team. Impulse likes to take credit for “setting them up” every time an article praises their teamwork._

_David isn’t sure if he’s amused or slightly horrified the day he finds one of those articles pinned to Impulse’s lair refrigerator._

_\--_

Jack laughs. “Race and Flare, with real goddamn names. What a world we’re livin’ in! Picture the shock on my face when I heard the two’a you start talkin’n I realized who you were. I had to spit some lie out about always gettin’ worked up over weddin’s so’s not to spill ya secret to Kath.” He pauses, humming thoughtfully. “Or mine.”

“You really, truly didn’t know?” Tony says skeptically.

“Nah,” says Jack. “S’not like I go lookin’ for you two off the clock, y’know? And I know you don’t look for me either – I may not’a known your name before, _Racer_ , but I know you. You would’a found me like that.” He snaps his fingers. “This does explain why you both booked these two weeks off though. Thought I’d be bored outta my mind ‘fore Kath asked me to come with her to this.”

Despite himself, David snorts. “You didn’t recognize my _face_?”

“Those glasses work wonders, Davey-boy,” Jack says. “As I’m sure you know, or you’d wear a mask.”

“Oh, he knows,” says Tony, rolling his eyes. “First time I met up with him, like, in civilian clothes, I looked right at’im three times before I figured out it was him.”

“Four,” David corrects fondly. He kisses Tony’s cheek. It’s more openly affectionate than they’d usually be in front of Jack, but there’s no use for a pretense that their relationship is purely professional anymore – he’s at their _wedding_.

\--

_“You look different!” Race – no, Tony – says, laughing. “I’m used to you being all –“ he waves a hand across his wild curls, and then in front of his face. “You’ve got fucking glasses on, Clark Kent!”_

_David laughs, too. “These are legit! I wear contacts at work.”_

_“You wear contacts?”_

_“I wear contacts.”_

_“Holy shit, Daves,” Tony says. “I can’t believe there’s so much I don’t know about you. We’ve worked together for months.”_

_“Yeah, well,” David replies, shrugging. “Nice to meet you again, I guess. What else do you want to know?”_

_\--_

“Four,” Tony concedes with a laugh.

“So how’d the two’a you really get together, huh?” Jack asks quietly. “Or, I mean. When?”

“’Bout three years ago,” says Tony. “You remember the day you accidentally dropped a building on Daves?”

“Vividly,” Jack says, shuddering. “I’m still sorry about that, by the way.”

“I know,” says David. Jack – as Impulse – has never _tried_ to seriously injure either of them. From David’s experience, he’s generally a decent enough guy who channels his considerable intelligence and talent into a very odd goal. Which made that day three years ago stand out in all of their minds – something had gone very, very wrong, and David had almost died.

“While I was _freaking the fuck out_ , I realized that maybe I was feeling something that ran a little deeper than concern for my partner should’ve,” Tony admits. “I mean, yeah. He was –“ Tony breaks off awkwardly. David does his subtle telekinetic tug on his sleeve again, pulling him a little closer. “But it was still a little more _I’m in love with you_ than _you’re my best friend_ , you know?”

\--

_David is still groggy, but he’s coming back around. Tony is kneeling next to him, holding David so his head and shoulders are resting on Tony’s lap. He can vaguely see Impulse hovering nearby – literally hovering, because he’s always been bad at keeping his feet on the ground when he’s feeling anxious._

_David twitches his fingers, tugging the neck of Tony’s shirt gently to get his attention._

_“Thank fuck,” Impulse says._

_“Get lost, Pulse,” Tony says, and his voice is so unbelievably shaky and ragged that it makes David’s heart ache along with everything else that’s already aching._

_Impulse nods and makes himself scarce._

_“Flare,” Tony says, then he drops his voice lower, “David. Daves. I thought you were gone, Daves.”_

_“M’here,” David mumbles. “M’okay.”_

_“You are not fucking okay,” says Tony. He sounds like he’s crying. David’s having a hard time focusing on him enough to confirm that visually, though. “You’re still in goddamn pieces, Flare, you can’t –“_

_“Tones,” David cuts in. “M’here. I’m alive.”_

_Tony releases a breath all at once. “Yeah, you’re alive. Thank God. You think you’re good to move? We gotta get outta the street.”_

_“Yeah, but’cha gonna have’ta help me.”_

_“Of course.”_

_“Thanks, Racer.”_

_“Of course,” Tony repeats. He pauses, chewing on his lower lip. “Dave – I –“_

_“Yeah?”_

_Tony shakes his head, seeming to lose his nerve. “I’ll tell you later. Up on three?”_

\--

“You did the thing,” Jack says, his eyes on Tony’s hand as it finds David’s between them. “That thing you do to get his attention – with the –“ Jack wiggles his fingers in a slightly dramatized imitation of the gesture David uses to tug on Tony’s clothes. “You do that in real life, too?”

“I try not to,” says David, shrugging. “But it’s an instinct. Does Kath know you can fly?”

“She caught me hovering once when I got excited about something,” Jack replies, running a hand through his hair a little sheepishly.

Tony snorts. “God, Daves, and you say _I_ struggle with control.”

“You do,” says David. “I’ve developed a clownfish-like immunity to small shocks.”

Jack laughs over Tony’s indignant spluttering.

“Look, I know I joke,” Jack says, after he catches his breath again, “but I wan’cha to know I’m happy for you. For real. I can’t speak for what your civilian life’s like, but you two are the most incredible team as heroes. It’s an honor to work with you.”

“Against us,” David corrects, but it’s mostly for show. The three of them know where they stand.

Katherine comes back, just then, two drinks in hand. “You boys getting along alright?”

“Davey’n’I were bonding over art,” Jack lies easily, grinning as he takes his drink from her. “Not that what he gets up to and political cartooning are that similar in practice, but an artist’s an artist at heart, ‘ey, Davey?”

“For sure,” says David. He takes that statement for what it is – a secret for a secret, a little glimpse into Jack’s normal life.

“We’ve got to go back to circulating,” Tony says, a half-smile on his face. “But it was real nice to see you, Kathy. And to meet you, too, Jack.” He offers his hand for Jack to shake.

“Ow!” Jack jerks his hand back from the handshake like he was burned.

Or, more accurately, shocked.

“What’s wrong, baby?” Katherine asks, frowning from Jack to Tony and back.

“Static shock,” Jack says, throwing Tony an unamused look.

Tony grins innocently. “Sorry, man. I don’t know where that came from!”

“We’ll just be going,” David says, before his husband or nemesis can risk their secret identities any more. “Jack, I get this sneaking suspicion we’ll be seeing you around.”

Jack laughs. “Be shocked if we didn’t, Davey.”


End file.
